Exodus 8:1-11 – Frogs
You remember George Burns, TV star of the 50’s and 60’s, one half of the comedy duo Burns and Allen, with his wife Gracie Allen. I heard a story about Mr. Burns. His friends always kidded him about his singing. Burns, a master of self-deprecating humor, decided to take advantage of this and insure his voice for a million dollars. He thought it would be a wonderful publicity stunt.
"I was so excited," said Burns, "I couldn't wait to rush down to the insurance company. I took a cassette and a tape recorder with me so the insurance man could hear my voice. It was one of my best numbers -- a syncopated version of Yankee Doodle Blues with a yodeling finish. The insurance man listened patiently to the whole thing, then he just looked at me and said, 'Mr. Burns, you should have come to us before you had the accident.'"
Today I want to share a fairly simple thought with you, and it has something to do with this story about George Burns. It’s about procrastination. It’s about putting off doing something good for a more convenient time.
And it’s found in a familiar story in the Bible that you’re likely to recognize but perhaps have never though of in this way. It’s found in the book of Exodus, the 2nd book of the OT. I’ll give you some back story, and then read the scripture.
Moses, the former prince of Egypt, has been called back by God to convince Pharoah to release the Hebrews, to be free from slavery to live in their own land and work their own soil. God had told Moses that He, God, would work through him, Moses, with signs and wonders to persuade Egypt’s evil king to let His people go.
So Moses walks back into Egypt like a Middle Eastern John Wayne or Gary Cooper, almost all alone in the battle against evil. In order to convince the Pharoah that God’s way is better, Moses performs a miracle: turning the waters of Egypt to blood. All the water became undrinkable, un-usable. This plague does nothing to convince Pharoah to let the Hebrew slaves go. Here’s where we pick up today’s story: Ex.8:1.
I find this somewhat of a funny story. It’s not funny that God’s chosen people were in prison. It’s not funny that Moses had to go back and confront the man who was his uncle by adoption. It’s not funny that the Egyptians were about to go through horrible times because of the stubbornness of their leader. No, what’s funny about this story is what Pharoah says in response to the plague of frogs. Moses asks him, “When do you want these things gone?” And Pharoah replies, “How about tomorrow?”
Now, why would Pharoah say “tomorrow”? I mean, I’m thinking that if I had frogs all around me, I’d want them gone ASAP. Someone described this situation: "Frogs in the houses, frogs in the beds, frogs baked with the food in the ovens, frogs in the kneading troughs worked up with the flour; frogs with their monotonous croak, frogs with their cold slimy skins, everywhere--from morning to night, from night to morning--frogs."
I think I’d pretty much want those things gone. But Pharoah wanted one more day of them. Why? Why would he tolerate them another day? Because he wasn’t quite ready not to be in charge anymore. He wanted one more day of being in power, being in control, being in charge. He wasn’t quite ready to say that God was the boss.
You know, we look at Pharoah and say that he was a fool for continued rejection of God’s rule. But I don’t know that people are much different today. You can look around at people on this island, people whose lives have been devastated by sin, and yet they still continue to do what they’ve been doing. They may have heard that God should be loved and obeyed. They may have even experienced forgiveness and grace at some point. But they still continue to do what they’ve been doing because it’s easier to sin than to trust. They think, “Well, I’ll change – just not today.”
Gloria Pitzer has written this clever little poem:
“Procrastination is my sin, It brings me naught but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it; In fact, I will...tomorrow.”
I just wonder how many frogs we put up with in our lives because we want to be in charge. Even as Christians, set apart for God, bought with a price, the bridegroom of Christ, His body, His temple, His people, called by His name, called from the darkness into His glorious light… yes, us, even us, we may have frogs. Not so much punishment from God, but the consequences of our own actions.
These frogs are not so much punishment because God was more than willing to take Pharoah’s frogs away. God let him decide how much longer the critters would be in the land. Scholars tell us that for the ancient Egyptians, the frog was also associated with Divinity, and was the symbol of Heqt, the wife of the creator of the world. God was essentially saying, “You like frogs so much? How about till they pollute your whole land?”
So this plague certainly defied Pharoah’s gods – they defiled the temple and made a mess of the whole land. That’s what sin does: it makes a mess, and especially when it’s done so visibly by a Christian. You’ve heard this: “They call themselves a Christian, and they go out a do that! I can’t believe it!” In many ways, the world knows how we’re supposed to act.
And yet, we so often tolerate the sin in our lives because we want to be in charge just a little longer. “Just one more day, and then I’ll quit. Just one more time, and then I’ll stop. This is the very, very last time I’ll do this.” Folks, we call Him Lord, but we don’t really mean Master or Boss.
The good news is that God forgives. He was willing to let the consequences of Pharoah’s sin to be gone, just as soon as he wanted. And God feels the same about you, even moreso likely. He so much wants to forgive and heal and restore and lift up and remove the effects of our sins, and He’s waiting to be asked!
I read a story about the effects of sin in our lives. In St. Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer, the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees.
The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. Even though the woman escaped serious injury, alas, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect.
Don’t procrastinate or put off doing what you know you should do in your spirit. Go to God for forgiveness, and ask for strength to do what you know you need to do. The good news is, that’s what He wants to do!
